6/30/06 Friday: Great Barrington to Upper Goose Pd Cabin (27.5mi)

PICTURES:
1. 1137: View from East Mtn.
2. 1426: A short break overlooking Benedict Pond
3. 1611: Ridge walking in Beartown State Forest.
4. 1659: Picturesque but rather sharp descent near the Shaker Campsite.
5. 1747: AT passes through a pasture outside Tyringham

Well a combination of a poor town to hitch from, getting up at 0730 and getting breakfast all helped to delay the start of our day... Grizzly joined us when we decided to start walking after 20 min of no luck hitchin... The three of us, Snapper, Grizzly, and I finally got picked up by Frederick, a local man who kinda scared Snapper a bit with his hippy appearance... I chose to ride in the cab of his pickup and strike up a conversation while the other 2 sat in the bed of the pickup.. Frederick was born again and I could see he had recently found new direction in his life... We chatted a bit during the 20min ride in traffic before he dropped us off at the trail head... We both resolved to pray for each other to meet our future challenges, whatever they might be... After shaking hands, I thanked him for his kindness and he was off... We were soon back on the trail and I had thoughts of Goose Pond right off... I was feeling good and chose to begin quickly for the 27+mi day... With such a late start I wasnt sure it would be possible... But after a look at the map I thought different.. By 1215 I had already covered 7miles and hadnt seen the other 2 since we got off the truck earlier... It was another "green tunnel" type of day with few photo ops as I arrived at the Upper Goose Pond Cabin just before dark. The caretaker there showed me around and directed me to the pond for a rinsing...;)... I removed my boots and took a dip carefully washing off the days sweat and grime... I hung everything up to dry and found a vacant bunk upstairs. There were about 8 other hikers, with another 3 showing up well after dark at about 1030... The caretaker found a bunk for everyone and we all got up at 0630 for our pancake breakfast...:)... We were all soon on our way after breakfast with the caretaker off across the lake to get more spring water for the a new day of hikers... A very pleasant stay and well worth the extra milage to experience it...